All Forum Posts by: Leah LaRue

Girl bye.

@Ali Boone - as for the cash flow, we will still be positive. I don't know if we will be eligible for traditional financing. I will inquire.

@Ali Boone - I have no idea lol. My sister has been handling the financial part of our deals, but she will be the first to tell you she is a rookie as well. Neither of us really know what we're doing. We're learning as we go. We met a guy and he told us we should take out a mortgage and use the cash to get another property. Then the lender told us because of her student loan debt, we would have to lump it all together. I couldn't offer my name and credit because I am under contract for a personal residence and plus, I have student loan debt too.

@Chingju Hu - thank you for that advice. I like that option. Just FYI, the cash reserves ($2500) is low indeed, but that's for our company, not our personal lives and expenses. We both have our own savings and emergency accounts so that god forbid if we lost our day jobs, we'd be ok. We don't anticipate having any emergencies with our rental properties that aren't covered by insurance and would cost more than $2500, but if we did, we'd chip in from our personal funds and cover it.

@Thomas S. Thank you for your reply. The neighborhood in which we purchased the SFH is undergoing a great deal of investment and development and is likely to continue to appreciate. We went under contract for $132k and by the time we closed about 6 weeks later, the house was estimated at $196k. A few weeks later, it was $204k. Once the development is completed, I expect it to be valued at at least $280k and that's a very conservative estimate. Selling it right now definitely isn't an option we are considering.

Oh and I've definitely seen all the mixed messages from those who advise against leveraging assets and those who recommend it. I just stand there reading it all like I'm watching a tennis match lol.

@Raquel Doheny Thank you so much for your reply. Here are some of the answers to your questions. Sorry I didn't think to include it from the beginning. Duplex - we paid $118k for it and put in about $10k into it. It recently appraised for $132k. We currently collect 925/625 (total 1550) per month and pay no utilities. We inherited the 625 lease and it ends in January, after which we will rent for $1000 for a total of $1925. SFH - we paid $132k for it and budgeted about $5000 for repairs. The estimated appraisal is $204k. It will rent for about $1300-1400/mo and we will pay no utilities. We have a very small cash reserve, maybe $2500 and by February, we expect to be able to save and invest about 80% of the rental income. I will check out the calculators and see what i come up with. In the meantime, thank you so much for your kind and encouraging words. I welcome any other input you may have.

Hello, my sister/partner and I are brand new to this game. We jumped in head first and purchased our first rental property, a duplex, in February 2018 and our second, a SFH in April 2018. Both homes were paid for in cash, and we own them free and clear. The duplex is fully occupied and the SFH will be ready for a tenant at the end of this month. We were at a loss for how to get cash to purchase additional property, and are considering taking out a mortgage on the duplex. They are lumping in my sister's personal debt (that was what the loan officer suggested) so we will only get $30k in cash to work with. I am a bit reluctant to do so because it puts us in a position where we will have a 30 yr mortgage at $737/mo. We won't be able to get traditional mortgages because we both have personal mortgages and student loan debt.

We haven't really made the best decisions since starting this business, and we're learning as we go. I don't want us to make another mistake, especially not one that we'll have to pay for a long time. 

What are your recommendations? Should we move forward with taking out a mortgage on this house? Or should we find another way to get cash to grow our portfolio? TIA.

Also: in my state, it's ok to tell them that you want to have it occupied by xyz date and you don't think you can complete all the steps to accept S8 by that date. It can be a lengthy process and most of them are looking to move immediately anyway.

I'm not getting into this debate, but here's our story: we had no intention of renting to voucher tenants. We listed a unit and got about 60 inquiries. About 35 of them asked if we accepted S8. We replied apologetically and informed them that our units had not been inspected by the housing authority for S8 (which is a legal response in our market). In the process, we met a delightful woman we really wanted to rent to, and she motivated us to go through the process with the housing authority. Idk about other markets but where I own, voucher tenants are required to work at least 30 hrs/week so these aren't "govt leeches" as some believe. My potential tenant just passed her insurance adjusters license exam and has a son entering his sophomore year in college. They seem like good people. We have our final inspection on Tues and our fingers are crossed that it will be a great tenancy. I'll let you know how it works out either way.